


The Vestige I Once Called Home

by The_Eldritch_IT_Gay



Series: Life of a Ghost [10]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Black hat hacker, Blackwatch, Blackwatch Era, Character Development, Disabled Character of Color, Friendship, Gen, Implied Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Talon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-10-18 15:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10619583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eldritch_IT_Gay/pseuds/The_Eldritch_IT_Gay
Summary: The last thing Reyes had expected to find during a raid of a small terrorist base was a kid. And he definitely did not expect for that kid to turn out to be a vital asset to Overwatch and Blackwatch. It's funny how things work out like that.[Title changed as this is now going to be a multi-chapter fic]





	1. Another Stray to Shelter

**Author's Note:**

> This originally was a one-shot about Malik's recruitment into Blackwatch, but I've decided to try doing a multi-chapter fic (hopefully) focusing on Malik's time in Blackwatch and Talon. Next chapter should be added soon óvò.

The last thing Reyes had expected to find during a raid of a small terrorist base was a kid.

It was supposed to be a routine mission, Blackwatch was given the location of what was apparently an outpost of some budding terrorist group by the name of Talon. All they were supposed to do was go in, remove Talon’s presence, retrieve any information they could, and get out. The first part went off without a hitch, the base clearly wasn’t expecting an attack, and by the looks of the place, it was a temporary outpost anyways. Reyes’ team took out most of the grunts with ease, one had been captured and was being brought back for interrogation. The mission was going smoothly until they moved onto the next part.

There was hardly any information in the base, and Reyes’ groaned with frustration as he looked through the files in one of the back rooms. All the computers on the premise had shut down and erased all their information during the attack, the few grunts that managed to flee must have taken any valuable information with them, while some of the less lucky people managed to destroy information before they were taken out.

Leaning against a desk, Reyes skimmed through a file- the only one he had found so far that was labeled ‘classified’ and wasn’t entirely destroyed. It seemed to be a file of one of their agents, or maybe a person of interest- over half of the data in the file was missing, and a lot of the remaining data redacted so he had to infer a lot. Paging through it, he managed to find a page that was mostly legible, talking about an infamous Central Asian hacker- nicknamed “Gsa' gzig” or at least that was the romanized version of the name- and he raised his eyebrows as he pieced together more of their story. First emerged working with the Tibetan resistance during the height of the omnic crisis. From what Reyes could tell, it didn’t take long for the hacker to stray from serving a good cause. There were broken tidbits about illicit activities, violence, a gang. Something about omnics, part of a record of the kid being sold to Talon, but his eyes were drawn to a word on the next page. Reyes narrowed his eyes as he saw Overwatch in the sea of redacted data, but couldn’t find any context. Too much information to sort through now, though. He turned back to the front of the file, where there were a couple grainy photos in the file of a young dark skinned, bespectacled androgynous person with a short afro. Humming, he carefully put the file in his bag, he wasn’t sure how useful it would be, but it was at the very least intriguing. He made a mental note to look into them when he got back to HQ.

Glancing around the ruins of the storeroom, Reyes let out a sigh. He grabbed the few of the other partially intact files and maps he had found and shoved them into his bag. Something was better than nothing, he figured, maybe there was at least something of value in the files. If not, he still had the grunt he could try to get information out of. And maybe he could find out more about the hacker and find a lead with that. It wasn’t what he had hoped for, but he figured he should take all the data he can get. Sighing, he headed to the next room over, searching through the ruined office for anything that could be useful.

He was looking through one of the filing cabinets tiredly when a voice in his com pulled him from his thoughts.

“Reyes,” Mikael said, a hint of worry in his voice, “I’m in the left corner room in the back of the building, I, uh, found something… and I need your help”

“On my way,” He replied quickly, putting down the file he had been looking at, heading over to the left side of the building, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s a bit complicated, once you get here I’ll explain. Just hurry, yeah?”

“Spiros-” Reyes started, but Mikael cut him off.

“I can’t talk right now, Reyes, just need some backup.”

That made Reyes feel slightly uneasy, but nevertheless, he didn’t press for more, letting his com go silent after affirming he’s on his way. He wasn’t worried per say, Mikael knew how to hold his own, he had joined Blackwatch the same year Reyes became commander of it. But since the mission was already not the ideal, he didn’t like the idea that something more could go wrong.

The room was easy to find, the door slightly ajar. He stepped into the room carefully and immediately saw Mikael standing in the middle of the room with his hands slightly raised in front of him. He barely had the time to question what Mikael was doing before he saw what he was looking at. In the corner of the room by some upturned desks was a person in tattered clothes, pointing a gun at Mikael with a shaking hand. Reyes had his weapon drawn and trained on the person in the blink of an eye, his movement catching their eye and they were quick to point their gun back at Reyes.

“Reyes, wait!” Mikael exclaimed, turning slightly to look at him, “It’s just a kid!”

Furrowing his brow, Reyes lowered his gun slightly, looking at the person curiously. Mikael was right, as Reyes eyed the person, he could tell that it was a kid, 16 or something. They covered in a myriad of bruises and cuts, their left arm held against their front, hand in an awkward angle. Their messy, blood matted afro falling in their face slightly, partially covering their cracked glasses and unnervingly golden eyes. The kid looked terrified, shaking, struggling to stay upright, their wrists bleeding from what he assumed must have been restraints they escaped from. As Reyes eyed them up, he couldn’t help but realize they were reminiscent of the hacker in the files he found. But this kid’s hair was darker, eyes inhuman, skin more ashen and scarred, more muscular, face harder- it didn’t look like the same person, everything looked _off._ Like they were a twisted poor imitation of the kid in the photo.

“Drop the weapon,” Reyes said evenly, nodding at the gun they held.

The kid didn’t move, didn’t even acknowledge that Reyes had spoken. For a moment, Reyes wondered if they had even heard him, or if they just didn’t care about what he was saying. They were gripping the gun like it was the only thing that was anchoring them, like they were terrified to let go of it for even a second.

“I said. Drop the weapon. Now.”

They were unresponsive, not even acknowledging his words. After a tense minute, however, they shook their head, adjusting their stance slightly to steady their hand a bit.

“Hey,” Mikael chimed in softly, “Put the gun down. Okay? We don’t want to hurt you.”

Surprisingly, Reyes saw the kid flick their eyes to look at Mikael, almost seeming to consider his words. But it didn’t last long, and their eyes focused back on Gabe; they didn’t meet his eyes, though, as if they were purposely avoiding it.

“You leave now, or I shoot,” They spoke suddenly, voice slow and thick with an accent Reyes couldn’t quite place.

He could only assume that they didn’t speak much English, which made their slow comprehension make sense. Sighing, he made sure to speak slowly and clearly when he spoke again.

“Like Spiros said, put down the gun, don’t do something you’re gonna regret.”

They didn’t give the same consideration to his words that they did to Mikael. Their form didn’t falter at all, seeming unaffected by the gun Reyes was aiming at them.

“You Overwatch,” They hissed, voice stilted and still fumbling over the sounds.

“What?”

They nodded to the Overwatch logo on the arm on his uniform.

“You Overwatch,” They repeated, “Leave now!”

He could see a burning hatred in their eyes as they stared at the logo, eyes almost _glowing_. He could almost feel the energy radiating from them, and when he took a small side step towards Mikael their eyes flicked to meet his for a split second he swore his vision flickered for a second.

“Look, we’re not here to hurt you,” Mikael started, lowering his hands slightly.

The kid was quick to aim their gun at him, eyes wide with fear. Mikael immediately froze.

“D-don’t move!” They commanded shakily, “Or I shoot!”

If they didn’t have the gun they wouldn’t have been particularly threatening, even with the gun, Reyes knew he could probably manage to disarm them before they could get a shot off. But something stopped him from doing that, maybe because they were a kid and more than anything, they seemed utterly terrified. But their eyes, their eyes were what unsettled him the most- the almost burning yellow irises, something so unnatural and unnerving. Something about them was inhuman, and Reyes didn’t want to test that.

“Spiros, do what they say, alright?” Reyes said under his breath, and Mikael gave him a small nod of acknowledgment before he addressed the kid again.

“Okay, okay,” Mikael nodded, raising his hands again, “I promise, I’m not here to hurt you.”

His voice was gentle and honest, and for a few seconds, the kid seemed to hesitate, the gun just barely lowering. The glow of their eyes dimmed slightly, fading to more of an amber as they relaxed. But almost as quickly as it happened, they were raising their gun again, letting out a low growl.

“ _LIAR!_ ” They shouted, finger hovering over the trigger.

Mikael’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at the sudden change but managed to stay still, keeping his hands up and not reaching for his weapon on the floor in front of him.

“Woah woah woah, let’s move your hand off the trigger, alright? I swear, I’m not here to hurt you, I already put down my gun, remember? I don’t want to hurt you, I’m here to help,”

“That what they always say… I won’t fall for it again… y-you- Overwatch- you monsters. Killers. You did this! You took everything from me!”

A look of confusion crossed Mikael’s face at the accusation followed quickly by dawning realization. Before he had a chance, Reyes spoke.

“And who told you that?” he asked, prompting them to turn back to him.

“It- don’t matter. It the truth. That what they told me.”

Their voice sounded slightly unsure, as if his simple question made them doubt themselves.  

“And you believe them? Aren’t they the ones who tied you up in here?”

Reyes could see them visibly tense for a second, their grip on the gun faltering for a second.

“You- you don’t know anything!” They shouted, voice cracking slightly, “They keeping me safe from the crisis!”

That made Gabe stop, he still had his gun trained on them, but he felt his stomach drop slightly. The Omnic Crisis had ended 4 years ago, Overwatch playing a lead role in ending the war. He hadn’t realized how far their false beliefs went- thinking Overwatch was evil was one thing, but not even knowing the crisis had ended a year ago a completely different thing. Things clicked into place suddenly, and a feeling of sadness and anger washed over him.

“How long have you been here?” It was Mikael who spoke first, his voice soft and somber.

They went quiet for a few moments, and Reyes could see tears starting to well up in their eyes as they looked down for a moment. Their gun slowly lowered as the silence dragged on, and Reyes lowered his own tentatively as well, watching the kid curiously.

It took Reyes a minute to realize that they weren’t being silent on purpose, they were silent because _they didn’t know the answer_. That silence spoke much louder than any words, the atmosphere heavy with how much information was loaded in their silence.

“W-what…” They stuttered eventually, voice raw, “What year is… now…”

“2056,” Reyes informed, solemnly.

“ _No-_ ” They hissed, tightening their grip on their gun but unable to hold it steady as their whole body trembled, “ _You’re lying- you-”_

Suddenly, their knees started to give out, they leaned heavily against the wall to stay upright, still trying to keep their gun aimed at Reyes but their aim was faltering. Reyes had already instinctively trained his gun on them again, but it lowered as he watched them struggle to even keep their hold on the gun, brow knit with worry and confusion.

“Reyes,” Mikael cut in, pulling Reyes from his thoughts, “They’re hurt...”

He nodded at the kid’s hand that they held against their body, which Reyes now noticed was stained a deep red, blood seeping through the fabric and now covering their deformed hand. It was only moments later that the kid crumpled to the ground with a pathetic noise, gun falling from their hand and landing with a clatter. Reyes immediately holstered his weapon upon seeing the kid collapse, quickly stepping towards the kid. He didn’t make it much past the first step before they flinched _hard_ , bracing themselves with their non-bloodied hand and letting out a terrified whimper that made Reyes stop dead in his tracks.

“Reyes, step back?” Mikael asked politely, looking over at him. Before Reyes could say anything else he continued, “They’re scared, and I know you have good intentions but you _have_ been pointing a gun at them…”

Letting out a quiet sigh, Reyes nodded and stepped back from the kid slowly. They cautiously lowered their hand from their face as he moved away. After a moment of silence, Mikael carefully stepped forward slowly, holding his hands out to show he’s unarmed.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Mikael assured, gently.

The kid looked at him warily, eyes still wide with fear, but they didn’t flinch when he took another step closer. At the moment, Reyes wasn’t sure if it was because they trusted Mikael a small bit, the blood loss, or a mix of both. A few feet away from them, Mikael crouched down so he was closer to eye level with them.

“I’m not going to hurt you, okay? I’m just trying to help. Is it okay if I come closer?” Mikael asked, voice soothing.

He waited patiently for a few moments, not moving until the kid nodded shakily. Offering a slight smiled, he moved to kneel right in front of them showing his hands again to reiterate how he’s unarmed. Up close he could they were shaking, their breathing fast, and tears streaming down their face slowly. Looking at their side he could see that the hand that was pressed against their wound looked deformed- two of the fingers hyperextended, the other two curled limply, and their thumb at an odd angle.

“My name’s Mikael, what’s yours?”

The kid was quiet for a few moments before weakly whimpering out, “Malik…”

“Alright, Malik, You’re bleeding quite a bit,” Mikael noted, looking worriedly at the stain on their shirt that now looked near black, “Can I see what happened?”

They murmured something in a language Mikael couldn’t recognize before they realized he didn’t understand them.

“It… I’m fine…”

“You’re not fine,” Mikael corrected, “Can you please move your hand for me, Malik?”

After a few moments, they nodded shakily. Struggling a bit, they slowly and unsteadily pulled their hand away. Their shirt was ripped and caked with blood and sticking to their skin, and he immediately spotted the bruised flesh that was torn open and bleeding heavily. Mikael let out a quiet curse under his breath and quickly pressed their hand back against the wound, keeping pressure on it as he turned to Gabe.

“They need a medic. ASAP. They’re going to pass out soon if the bleeding doesn’t stop.”

Reyes let out curse this time, pinching the bridge of his nose while weighing his options. He knew fuck all about this kid, and whoever they were, they were with Talon for at least 4 years, and they tried to shoot both him and Mikael. There was every reason not to bring them back to HQ, but- _Fuck it_ , he thought, _we can’t waste any more time._

“Alright,” Reyes nodded, “Can you get them to the transport? I need to do a quick sweep before we head out. There should be a medkit in the transport, and maybe I’ll find information on the kid on my way out, yeah?”

Mikael nodded, carefully scooping the kid up and instructing them to keep pressure on their wound. They hardly seemed to process what he said, eyes lidded, but after a moment, they complied. Reyes heard Mikael let out a slightly relieved sigh before heading out to the transport.

Shaking his head tiredly, Reyes jogged back to the room he had been in before, grabbing the few files that had been left behind and shoving them into his bag. Closing his bag, he did one last quick sweep of the desolate base before he ran out to the transport.

///

Reyes strapped himself into his seat seconds before the transport took off, leaning back and closing his eyes with a tired sigh.

“Bringing home another stray, Reyes?” A voice to his left asked, sounding slightly amused.

Chuckling dryly, he opened his eyes, looking over at the agent sitting next to him. They were in the middle of looking through the files Reyes had retrieved, looking over at him and grinning slightly.

“Don’t know yet, Birro. Don’t get too attached, though, this is just temporary right now.”

Hayden laughed, “That’s what you said about Jesse. And Nat. Seriously, Reyes, I think Morrison’s going to hold an intervention if you keep bringing in strays.”

“Nat was already 18. Jesse wasn’t part of a terrorist organization. Right now they’re here ‘cause I wasn’t going to leave them to die.”

It wasn’t a lie, honestly, Reyes couldn’t have left that kid behind with a good conscience. But even then, Birro had a point. This kid would be the 3rd he’d brought back from missions this year. Jesse and Nat had already been dubbed “Reyes’ Strays”; both of them either had the choice of prison or Blackwatch, and they both opted for Blackwatch. Even though Reyes wasn’t thinking ahead too much, he could see how this kid could end up facing the same choice.

“You sure it wasn’t about this?” Hayden asked, pulling Reyes from his thoughts and nodding at the file they had open- the one about the hacker, “Looks like the kid’s pretty skilled with hacking and programming. And they probably know more about this Talon group than we do. And Talon seems to see them as an important asset.”

Reyes was quiet. While it definitely wasn’t the main reason he brought them back, it might have played a part. They knew about Talon, seemed to be a skilled hacker, and Talon saw them as an asset- they could be a valuable addition to Blackwatch. It was still a massive gamble though, Jesse and Nat had been facing prison, but this kid had been part of a terrorist group that hated Overwatch- and if their file was correct, they were also an infamous criminal hacker. It was more than a gamble really, it was flirting with disaster.

Reyes sighed, looking over to the kid who was currently being tended to by Mikael and Sala- one of their medics. The kid wasn’t quite stabilized yet, and in the bright light of the transport, he could see they were in a worse state than he had thought. Covered in bruises of varying ages, scars, needle marks. It wasn’t hard to piece together that the kid was being held against his will, and Reyes felt an almost protective anger.

“They might stay with us...” He murmured eventually, surprising Hayden slightly, “First things first, we’re taking them to the medbay… and after that... We’ll just have to wait and see, Birro…”  

///

The transport was quiet on the way back, the only sounds were the low hum of the engines and the occasional small noise as Sala tended to Malik. Hayden had moved to stretch out on one of the benches in the corner of the transport and had seemingly dozed off. Reyes didn’t blame them, the mission had gone longer than expected and it was a long ride back to Zürich. In fact, Reyes was leaning back in his seat and resting his eyes himself. It must have been about halfway through the ride that Reyes heard someone sit next to him.

“How’s the kid?” Reyes asked quietly, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“They’re stable for now, sedated,” Mikael sighed, “Sala reckons they’ve lost a lot of blood, can’t be sure about the extent of internal injuries until they get to the medbay. She also noted paralysis in their left arm.”

Reyes let out a long exhale, shaking his head.

“Did they say anything?”

When Mikael didn’t respond after a minute, Reyes opened his eyes, looking over at him. In the dimmed lights of the transport, he could see Mikael smiling softly, looking over at the kid.

“Nothing useful to Blackwatch, if that’s what you're asking…”

“Never said I was,” Reyes shrugged, waiting for Mikael to respond.

Closing his eyes, Mikael looked down.

“They said I was the first person they’ve met in years that didn’t try to hurt them…” Mikael murmured, going quiet for a while, “What are we gonna do with them, Gabe?”

“Patch them up back at HQ, talk to them a bit- their background, more about their hacking, their involvement with Talon...”

“You’re thinking about bringing them on the team?”

Reyes chuckled softly, “Is it wrong for me to say yes?”

“As long as you don’t make a habit out of this…” Mikael said with a small smile, “Bringing in strays, that is. They could do a lot of good with Blackwatch. But they were working with terrorists, remember…”

“Do you think it’s a bad idea?”

Mikael thought for a moment, looking back over to the kid again. His face seemed to soften as he watched the kid, who was dead asleep at the moment. Their glasses were still skewed slightly on their face, hair still messily falling in their face.

“There’s not many options for them…” Mikael sighed quietly, “They’re probably going to be facing jail time, but I think they deserve a second chance. If keeping them on the team is the only option that gives them a shot at redemption, I don’t think it’s a bad idea…”

Reyes smiled slightly at that- Mikael’s words echoed what Reyes had said when he brought Nat and Jesse from off the streets.

“Let’s get them healed up first, then we can focus on giving them a second chance.”

Smiling, Mikael nodded in agreement before leaning back in his seat tiredly. Reyes let out a quiet sigh as he lapsed into silence again, leaning his head against the wall and letting his eyes fluttered closed. He had started drifting off to sleep when he heard Mikael mumble something tiredly.

“Amari’s gonna chew you out when she finds out you brought home another stray.”

“Well, let’s hope she likes this one then…Third time’s the charm, they say...” Gabe yawned, grinning as he heard Mikael laugh softly.


	2. A Bad Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I know you're looking for someone to work intel, that's fair enough. But do you really think he's the best option? An international terrorist that has already attacked Overwatch? You'd trust him with confidential Blackwatch information, and give him access to our databases? Do you really want a black hat hacker basically running your intelligence department?"
> 
> "He doesn't seem that malicious..." Reyes tried half-heartedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An actual multi-chapter fic? In MY series? Apparently.  
> Sorry for how plot-heavy and foreshadow-y this chapter is, but there's a lot of info I wanted to go over and it's all pretty important to the story or Malik's character.

Reyes sighed as he looked into the small medbay room where the kid was. A doctor was taking his vitals at the moment and doing a brief neurological exam. Sala had been correct about the paralysis, preliminary tests showed significant nerve damage in his left forearm, hand, as well as his legs. There wasn’t any hope of recovery from that, the damage appeared to be years old, the nerves far too damaged to heal. Despite the kid’s protest, he had been fitted with a sling for his paralyzed arm while he had been out. A quick surgery had removed the bullet fragmentation from the gunshot, blood transfusion had replenished lost blood. Reyes had hoped to let the kid recover and rest for the night and interrogate tomorrow, but he had been called down to the medbay only an hour or so after he had come out of surgery.  
  
He had only been out for a relatively short amount of time, all things considered, he was supposed to be down and out for a while, but the anesthesia had long since worn off and now the kid was wide awake. One of the doctors chalked it up to his abnormal body chemistry, which Reyes could only assume was a result of whatever Talon had been doing. It was hard to pinpoint what Talon had been doing to him, but Reyes had to assume the effects were much more than just his unnerving and sharp golden eyes. Either way, all of the kid’s medical records and test result were immediately classified the second the abnormalities were detected, as well as the data found on him at Talon. It wasn't just because of the unknown compounds in the kid's blood and his affiliation with terrorists- one of the tests revealed traces of chemicals that had eerie and sickening similarities to the ones used in the Soldier Enhancement Program.   
  
Through all of it, one thing became clear: there was no way this kid was going to get released. And Reyes had yet to decide what to do with him.   
  
The doctor that had been examining the kid seemed to have finished, as he quickly scrawled down a few notes before heading out.   
  
“Is he being compliant?” Reyes asked the doctor the second he was out of the room.  
  
“Somewhat reluctantly, but yes,” The doctor shrugged, “His name is Malik, by the way, at least that’s what he says. He’s not being violent or non-compliant, and he’s surprisingly relaxed for a kid who was just shot and woke up in a strange place. I wouldn’t say he’s well adjusted though. It’s hard to say after only couple hours with him but he’s hitting a lot of the markers for PTSD.”  
  
“Not surprising…”  
  
“You should also know there's significant nerve damage beyond just his hand, irreversible, but seems localized to his right leg, hip, and lower back. I doubt he can walk much without assistance. And the blood results that noted the chemical compounds also came back with markers for something rheumatological, likely something degenerative that hasn't been treated by the state of it. He’ll heal from the GSW soon enough, but if you're keeping him around I'm going to need to start treatment.”  
  
“Did he say much to you?” Reyes asked after a moment.   
  
“His English is poor, but he answered my questions about his medical history the best he could for the most part.”  
  
“Anything about Talon or SEP?”  
  
Sighing, the doctor looked at Reyes.   
  
“You can go talk to him if you’d like. We have no reason to believe he’d try to attack you and in general doesn’t seem to pose an imminent threat. If you need I can grab one of our translators.”  
  
“I'll manage, thank you.”  
  
The doctor nodded before heading off, leaving Reyes standing outside of the medbay room alone. Sighing again, Reyes fished his phone out of his pocket, quickly typing out a message before putting it away, glancing into the room once more.  


* * *

  
It didn’t take too long for Morrison to show up, looking exhausted and exasperated as he walked up next to Reyes.   
  
“You were supposed to take down a terrorist base and retrieve intel, and you came back with another child.” Morrison sighed, looking into the medbay room at the kid, “Was he a hostage or?”  
  
“He's actually a Talon agent,” Reyes said, “Gotta start   
'em young, I suppose.”  
  
Leaning against the wall, Morrison looked at Reyes wearily.   
  
“You can't take in every child criminal you find, Gabe,”  
  
Morrison did have a point, and Reyes knew it.   
  
“The kid has intel. And it was either we take him back with us or leave him to die.” Before Morrison could get a word in, Reyes added, “Preliminary blood tests show traces of a SEP-like drug.”  
  
That was what got Morrison’s attention, as he suddenly straightened, face serious.   
  
“Talon knows about SEP?”  
  
Reyes shrugged, “If they're synthesizing a drug that's reminiscent of SEP drugs, I would say yes. The only way we can find out more about what Talon was doing right now is through that kid.”  
  
“If he's willing to work with us he could be an asset…”   
  
“Mhmm,” Reyes nodded.   
  
“You want me in there with you for the interrogation, I assume?”  
  
“Figured you'd be interested.” Reyes shrugged, “Kid's stable right now, the doctor says he's being compliant. He doesn't speak English, though.”  
  
“Great," Morrison sighed, "Alright then, lead the way.”  
  
When they walked into the room, the kid hardly reacted besides idly watching them and eventually giving a minuscule nod. Pulling a couple chairs closer to the hospital bed, Reyes sat down, looking at the kid.   
  
“I'm Commander Reyes, this is Commander Morrison. We wanted to ask you a few questions.”  
  
The kid gave a curt two-fingered wave, muttering something Reyes couldn't make out. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Morrison raising his eyebrows slightly, trying to figure out what he had said. Before Morrison could even ask, Reyes fished around for something in his pocket, pulling out a small handheld device.   
  
Making eye contact with the kid- Malik- Reyes held up the small metal device.  
  
“This is a translator. Since you’re a bit slow with English, I figured it’d be easier for you to speak your native language, and this thing will translate for us.”  
  
He tossed it to Malik, who clumsily caught it in his hand, inspecting it curiously. After a moment he said something in language Reyes didn’t recognize, and a split second later the translator lit up.  
  
“Let’s see how well this works…” The translator supplied, making Malik grin, “Nice. Alright then.”  
  
It was a bit slower than being able to talk to each other directly, but it was remarkably faster than any other way.  
  
“We’ll do our best to talk clearly, but if you need us to slow down or repeat something, just say so.” Reyes offered.  
  
Malik shrugged.  
  
“Where's Mikael?” Malik asked, looking at Reyes.  
  
“He's not needed for this.”  
  
That seemed to upset Malik, as he sighed, visibly deflating. Reyes couldn’t help but find it mildly amusing, though it made sense. Mikael was a good agent and had been extremely kind and helpful to Malik when they found him, of course Malik would be partial to him.   
  
“Alight then,” Reyes started, sitting back in his chair, “Let’s start with the basics, shall we? Your name’s Malik?”   
  
“Yes.” He nodded.  
  
“Got a last name?”  
  
“Sure,” He said.

Reyes waited for a moment, but Malik stayed quiet.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really."

Sighing, Reyes realized this wasn't going to be easy.

"What is your last name?"

After a moment, Malik replied, "Ramos."  
  
“Is that your real last name?” Jack asked skeptically.  
  
“It's as real as any other name.”  
  
There was a lot in that answer Reyes could dig into, but for now, Malik’s last name wasn’t high on his priority list. Morrison didn’t seem to need to dig for a real answer either.   
  
“How old are you?”  
  
“I don't know.”  
  
Reyes sighed. Maybe ‘compliant’ wasn’t the best way the doctor could have described Malik. Though knowing what he knew about Talon keeping them captive, he couldn’t rule out that Malik genuinely didn’t know the answer.  
  
“Where are you from?” Reyes tried.  
  
“Tibet, originally.”  
  
That at least was easy for Reyes to confirm. His answer lined up with what the files Talon had on him.  
  
“Any living family?”  
  
“Not since the attack on Shanghai.”  
  
Reyes winced slightly, remembering what the aftermath of that attack had looked like. Bodies littering the street, fires, collapsed buildings, makeshift medic tents filled to capacity with casualties. So many bodies went unclaimed, some to mangled to be recognizable. If Malik was 17, he would have been 8 when the attack happened.   
  
“Why were you in Shanghai?”  
  
“Why do you care?”

"Just trying to put together a timeline." Reyes said, "The doctor said you have some nerve damage, is that from the attack?"

"Some. Bastions can cause a lot of damage."

"Not many can claim they survived a Bastion attack."

"Trust me I know."

The translator didn't pick up emotion well, but Reyes swore he could see a flicker of emotion across Malik's face. A sadness or pain that threatened to show.

Reyes nodded, "How long were you in Shanghai?"

"Until Talon found me."

"And how did they find you?" Morrison asked.

Malik shrugged, fidgeting idly for a moment.

"Plenty of ways. I had enemies and all my allies were gone."   
  
Malik’s story was believable, if not from the emotion in their face, then from what Gabe saw in the aftermath of omnic attacks. So many kids died, so many of the survivors were orphans. Reyes had seen so many kids missing limbs or skin that were left disfigured and alone.   
  
“How long have you been with Talon?” Jack asked suddenly.  
  
Reyes welcomed the change of topic, as much as he wanted to get information about the kid himself, the connection to Talon was important. Even if Not that Malik seemed to mind the sudden change in questions, he seemed a bit relieved to be moving on from his personal life.  
  
“5 years, I would think. It blurs together a lot.”  
  
“Were you actively working with them or just being held captive?” Reyes asked.  
  
“They wouldn’t have kept me around for that long if I wasn’t serving a purpose. It’s not like I was being held for ransom, the whole reason they took me is that no one would miss me if I disappeared. And they were right. No one ever came looking for me. For all intents and purposes, I didn’t, and don’t exist.”  
  
“We’ve been trying to take down Talon for a while now,” Morrison started, leaning forward, “You-”  
  
“You want me to work with you and give you information, I’m guessing.” Malik interrupted, “I don’t see much need to beat around the bush. I don’t need you to sugar coat anything.”  
  
“Fair enough,” Reyes nodded, “Then are you willing to work with us?”  
  
“Sure,” The kid shrugged, “For the most part.”  
  
“Really?” Morrison asked, raising his eyebrows.  
  
“It not like I have options. It seems I work with you or I end up in prison. Or dead. I wouldn’t mind death or torture if I'm being honest. Though Overwatch doesn’t seem the type to kill young people. Blackwatch is another story.” Malik looked at Reyes pointedly.   
  
Silence fell across the room as Reyes and Morrison processed what he had just said. Up until now, Malik had been entirely non-threatening, but that small detail he dropped suddenly changed everything.  
  
“How do you know about Blackwatch?”  
  
“I have my ways. Your cyber security is lacking, by the way. If you seriously haven’t picked up someone hacking into your systems-”  
  
“You’re admitting, to the commanders of Blackwatch and Overwatch that you hacked into Overwatch’s systems?” Morrison sounded incredulous, narrowing his eyes at Malik.   
  
Malik shrugged again, staying silent.   
  
“Why hack into Overwatch?”  
  
“I’m a hacker, I thought you would have picked that up from my file, but,” He made a vague hand gesture, “I thought it would be a challenge, I like challenges. It gave me something to do.”  
  
“Talon didn’t put you up to it?”  
  
“Nah. That was just something I was already doing”  
  
“Did you take information?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“And what did you do with said information?”  
  
“Sold some. Kept some.” Malik shrugged.  
  
“Who did you sell to?”  
  
“Various people. Whoever it was beneficial to have connections with.”  
  
“And you found it was beneficial to join them?”  
  
“You read my files, yes? At least the ones you could salvage. It says quite plainly that I was sold to Talon, I did not ‘join’. Talon doesn’t exactly ask nicely for you to join them.”  
  
“What information did you sell, and who did you sell to?”  
  
“That’s a very broad question,” Malik remarked flatly.   
  
Morrison made a frustrated noise at all of Malik’s noncommittal answers.  
  
“Did you give Overwatch information to Talon,” Jack asked slowly.  
  
“Not exclusively.”  
  
“Confidential information?” Reyes clarified.  
  
That made Malik pause for once, he hummed, tapping his fingers as he thought.  
  
“Depends on your definition of confidential.”  
  
“What does that mean?”  
  
Sighing, Malik pushed some hair out of his eyes.   
  
“Confidential things sell for higher profit. I would lie here and there about something being confidential so I could up the price. Sure people would find out later, but that wasn't my problem.”  
  
“You were just asking to be caught with that,” Reyes muttered, shaking his head.  
  
“I mean yeah,” Malik shrugged, “At that point, I had absolutely nothing to lose, so why not. What are they gonna do, kill me? Alright then.”  
  
Maybe that’s why Malik acted the way he did, Reyes mused, because he didn’t have anything to lose. He had been through hell and lost everything, and now he didn’t have a reason to play it safe.   
  
“No matter the reason or the scamming. You did hack into Overwatch and sell Overwatch information. And you also did give information to Talon, though.” Reyes pointed out.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“That alone could get you thrown in prison.”  
  
“And?”  
  
The dull voice of the translator seemed to perfectly capture Malik’s indifference. Reyes couldn’t tell if it was a ruse, he wondered if Malik was pretending not to care like a defiant teenager. In the end, criminal charges aside, that’s what Malik was- a defiant teenager.  
  
“And that doesn’t bother you?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Gang affiliation, terrorist affiliation, hacking into Overwatch, attacking and threatening Blackwatch members. You won’t just be thrown in prison for a bit. You’ll be thrown in prison for life. No parole. You’re young, life in prison is a long time.” Reyes said, looking at Malik seriously   
  
“Prison has always been a threat, if I was lucky enough,” Malik didn’t even look up at Reyes, “I could have been thrown in prison at nearly any point in my l"   
  
It wasn’t a ruse, Reyes could tell now. Malik was unperturbed by any threats, and he already felt he had nothing to lose. Prison time, death, torture. He was unfazed. It wasn’t just that he had nothing to lose, it was that he had nothing to live for. He had grown up surrounded by war, violence, and death, he grew up under constant threat, he watched everything around him turn to dust. There was no way he was going to be scared into giving information, nothing Reyes could threaten him with that he hadn’t already been subject to. Reyes needed a new tactic, he realized with a sigh.   
  
His mind went back to what he read about Malik in the file Talon had.   
  
“Tell me about you hacking.”  
  
That seemed to surprise Malik slightly.  
  
“What about it?”  
  
“When did you start hacking?”  
  
Malik shrugged, thinking for a moment.  
  
“I think I started tinkering with electronics when I was 5 or 6. Hard to remember. Started actually hacking a couple years later.”  
  
“How’d you learn to hack?”  
  
“Partially self-taught. I had some help when I joined a hacking group. Part of the local resistance group.”  
  
“Why did you want to hack? If it was to join the resistance there were certainly other ways you could have joined.” Reyes pointed out.   
  
“First off I’m a cripple. No one wanted me. At least behind a screen people thought I was capable. And well, I liked computers and omnics. They were interesting and logical. I had a knack for finding patterns, cryptography was an interest of mine from a young age. I liked hacking because I could learn about people, not just how they were publically. I was surrounded by so many violent unpredictable people growing up, I thought maybe I could find something people like that had in common, or find a pattern to their behavior. It was overly ambitious of me, of course, when humans enter an equation everything goes non-linear. There isn’t one catch-all pattern, it’s much more complicated than that obviously. There are always outliers.”  
  
“Where’d you learn to do all that, though?” Jack asked, seeming slightly fascinated, “School or-”  
  
“I never got proper schooling. If I wanted to I would have to learn a new language and leave behind my culture. That’s assuming there was a school nearby and my family had money for it. I taught myself instead- obviously, I had help. I took a couple free classes I could find online or used hacking to get what was behind paywalls. On the streets, I stole textbooks people left being when they were fleeing the omnics. Mainly stuff on maths, tech, and psychology.” After a second of though, he quickly added, “By no means am I qualified or anything, I don’t have any degrees or diplomas, so I’m not going to claim I’m an expert or good at any of it.”  
  
“Selling yourself short, don’t you think?” Reyes chuckled when Malik looked at him puzzled he continued, “Maybe you’re not an expert, but you repeatedly hacking into Overwatch’s databases. And, Talon seems to think you might be a slightly infamous South-Asian hacker.”  
  
“And you believe them? That's a dangerous way of thinking.”   
  
“Talon had some interesting evidence tying you to the hacker that’s hard to refute. So why don’t you tell us about Gsa' gzig.”  
  
Malik burst out laughing, hand flying up to cover his mouth as he tried to quiet himself.  
  
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He managed between laughs, “I just- I’ve never heard a- uh… a westerner try to pronounce that, and just- oh my gods-”  
  
Morrison was grinning at Reyes, trying not to crack up and Reyes shot him a glare.   
  
“I don’t speak Tibetan, I can only assume I butchered it horribly or said something offensive,” Reyes admitted.  
  
“Gods no, it’s fine,” Malik assured him, getting his breathing back under control, “It’s getting hard to find speakers in my homeland, I don’t blame you. I’ve just never heard anyone try to speak my language. It’s amusing to me. My apologies.”   
  
Reyes nodded, “Either way, that hacker is known pretty well in South Asia. It seems you’ve given the Chinese government no shortage of trouble. They did place a little bounty on your head.”  
  
“I don’t doubt it, though I would like to see the evidence you have tying me to Gsa’ gzig before I share about it.” Malik replied flatly, all humor from before suddenly gone, “If we were the same person, though, I would tell you there was a bounty on my head anyway, the government only used that bounty as an excuse if I wound up dead. If they made Gsa’ gzig into a public enemy, no one would bat an eye if they died.”  
  
Reyes narrowed his eyes- Malik had been so open up until this point. He had had no trouble admitting to the commanders of Overwatch and Blackwatch that he hacked their systems, no problem giving personal information. Some of his answers might have been purposely vague, but no outright denial like what he was doing now.  
  
“Admitting you are the hacker doesn’t change much of anything for you. You’re still facing charges of terrorism. Same sentence if you admit to it. There’s no reason to lie.” Jack said.  
  
“And I’m sure you believe that,” Malik replied, looking Jack dead in the eye.  
  
“I doubt it’s the legal ramifications that bother you then,” Reyes mused, but Malik remained impassive, “So why start it denying now.”  
  
“I have my reasons.”  
  
Malik was closing up again, going back to expressionless few-syllable meaningless answers. He wasn’t going to tell them anything valuable now. Nevertheless, Jack still tried, but Malik’s answers got more and more vague.  
  
“Are you working for someone?”  
  
“Depends.”  
  
“Do they know where you are?”  
  
That just garnered a shrug, and Reyes shook his head at Morrison.   
  
“I think we have what we need for now,” Reyes said, standing up, “You should rest, you’ve been through a lot today.”  
  
Malik nodded, not really looking up at Reyes or Morrison. For a moment, Reyes really felt for the kid. Malik looked exhausted, paralyzed arm hanging limply in the sling, abdomen heavily bandaged, forehead freshly stitched. Criminal or not, he was still a kid.   
  
Before Reyes could leave, Malik clumsily tossed the translator over to him, nodding and muttering something in his native tongue. Reyes couldn’t understand him but nodded before leaving the room and letting the kid sleep.

The second they had left the room, Morrison turned, looking Reyes directly in the eye.

"You're considering taking him in, aren't you?"

"I haven't decided anything yet," Reyes said honestly, "But don't feel like you need to hold back your opinion on my account, Jack."

Morrison sighed, glancing over his shoulder back into the medbay room.

"I know you're looking for someone to work intel, that's fair enough. But do you really think he's the best option? An international terrorist that has already attacked Overwatch. You'd trust him with confidential Blackwatch information, and give him access to our databases? Do you really want a black hat hacker basically running your intelligence department?"

"He doesn't seem that malicious..."

"He hacked into Overwatch because he thought it would be a fun challenge. Scammed people and sold information for money. I wouldn't call that ethical. Maybe not intentionally malicious, but his actions speak louder than words."

"I know," Reyes sighed tiredly.

Morrison was right- Malik was a criminal and whatever his intent, his actions had malicious results. The fact that Reyes needed someone to work the Blackwatch intelligence department could be clouding his judgment. But at the same time, Reyes believed in second-chances, in redemption. If Malik was willing to work with Blackwatch, Reyes wanted to give him a chance. Especially if the other option for Malik was prison.

Sighing, Morrison shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Look," He started, voice soft, "When it comes down to it, it's your choice. I won't deny that the kid is skilled, or that his skills would be invaluable for taking down Talon. But I don't know how to feel about his criminal history, and the thought of him working intel makes me a bit nervous. But I don't run Blackwatch. Do what you think is right, just remember to take into account all the risks before you make a decision. Okay?"

With one last glance at Malik, Reyes nodded.

"Okay."  


* * *

  
The next morning, when Reyes walked into the kitchen Ana was already there, reading the news while she sipped some tea.   
  
“I hear you’ve brought home a new child, Gabe,” Ana said with a smile, not looking up from her tea while Gabe poured himself some coffee.   
  
Sighing, Gabe pulled up a chair across from her. He never knew how Ana always managed to know what was happening, but she always did. It shouldn’t have been surprising she had heard about Malik, Reyes told himself, but he still couldn’t help the slightly unnerving feeling he always got when Ana pried into his life.  
  
“Who told you?”  
  
Malik had only been brought back the last night and hadn’t even been out of the medbay. Hardly anyone knew about him. Hell, not even most people in Blackwatch knew.   
  
“I have my connections,” She grinned, “Now, tell me about your new child.”  
  
“He’s not-” Gabe cut off when Ana looked at him critically, “Whatever. We found him half dead in a Talon base. We don’t know exactly what Talon was doing with him, but we’ve pieced together he was part of an experiment. Abnormal body chemistry, which is remnant of the stuff they gave us at SEP. Which has some chilling connotations. He must have been in there a while, didn’t even know the crisis was over...”  
  
Ana shook her head, frowning slightly. She hadn’t been involved in SEP of course, but she knew enough from working with Reyes and Morrison to know more than enough about the negative effects. And just the idea of someone being held captive and in the dark for so long in itself was almost sickening.  
  
“Mmm… hold old is he then?”  
  
“No one knows for sure, no records,” Reyes shrugged, “Five years older than Fareeha, I’d say. 17. Same age as McCree. I wouldn’t think he could be much older than that.”  
  
“SEP was bad enough, doing that to a child…” Ana sighed, shaking her head, “You’re thinking about bringing him into Blackwatch though?”  
  
She didn’t sound accusatory, more genuinely curious. It made sense. She hadn’t been too critical when Reyes brought McCree into Blackwatch, though she didn’t seem too fond of him at the moment.   
  
Reyes let out a deep breath, resting his head in his hand, “Right now he’s just getting medical treatment, he got shot during the raid. He’s recovering nicely, but he also has plenty of nerve damage from the crisis. They think he probably has some health issues as well. He’s working with us a bit right now, he’s being at least somewhat compliant with questioning. Ideally, we’d like him to give us information on this Talon group. Captive or not, he was still working for terrorists, and the little history there is suggests gang affiliations among other things. He hacked into Overwatch repeatedly because it was, quote, "A fun challenge". He’s also been connected to a slightly infamous hacker in central-south Asia. They might be easier on him because of his circumstance but…”  
  
He didn’t have to finish the sentence. Jesse had been facing prison time, and he didn’t have the extra charge of working with an international terrorist group. He also didn’t hold Gabe and another agent at gunpoint. Jesse almost seemed moral in comparison to the kid. Jesse also didn’t outright compromise Overwatch security for no reason.   
  
“You didn’t answer my question…”  
  
“I dunno Ana, maybe,” Reyes said tiredly, “He could be an asset in taking down Talon. He might not be traditionally qualified but his skills are impressive. Blackwatch intel agents are non-existent as it stands now, and he could fill that position-”  
  
“It seems you’re in the business of adopting child criminals…” Ana chuckled.  
  
“I’m trying not to make it a habit… Just,” He sighed, remembering Spiros and Birro’s words on the transport, “It’s not like I could leave him there. And maybe he’s willing to work with us, he’s incredibly skilled. It’d be a waste for him to spend his life in prison.”  
  
“Reyes’ home for wayward criminals~,” Ana said grinning while she stirred her tea.  
  
Gabe couldn’t help his smile and short laugh. It was a running joke Ana had started after Reyes recruited a few criminals, giving them a second chance in Blackwatch. Not everyone agreed with it, of course, but it didn’t deter him too much. Ana liked to joke that Blackwatch was like a shelter taking in strays, or that it was fast becoming a home for wayward souls.   
  
“I haven’t decided if he’s staying yet, still,” Reyes pointed out after a moment.  
  
Ana hummed as she pointedly ignored Reyes denial. When he shot a glare at her, she relented.  
  
“Well, if you insist you’re not taking him in… Any living family members? He’s still young, have you looked to see if anyone’s missing him?”  
  
Sighing, Gabe shook his head.   
  
“Hasn’t seen his family since the Shanghai attack, he would have been about 8 when it happened. Mentioned living on the streets, apparently, so that’s where I assume the gang affiliation came from. There were plenty of gangs in the city that thrived after the attack. Not that we can be sure what happened. There are no records we could use to confirm his story, the most we have is his word and some half redacted Talon files. I don’t trust all of Talon’s data inherently, and the kid isn’t fluent in English. We had to use a translator to get anywhere with the questioning.”  
  
Ana was silent for a moment.   
  
“What’s his name?”  
  
“Malik. Can’t be sure if it’s his actual name, but he does respond to it. Gave us some half-assed made-up last name. Nurses heard him speaking Arabic, though, so the first name might be legit. It just strikes me as a bit odd that a Tibetan kid that grew up in the Himalayas happens to be fluent in Arabic and have an Arabic name. But who am I to judge, he's far from typical.”  
  
After a minute of silence, Ana stood up, grabbing another mug and tea bag.  
  
“What are you doing?” Gabe asked as he watched her pour hot water into the mug and start towards the door.  
  
“Going to see this Malik kid,” She shrugged, “Give him some tea, talk with him, give him a break from trying to speak English. I didn’t get a vote in Jesse or Nat’s recruitment. I need to meet Malik before I cast my vote.”  
  
“Wh- B- You’re not part of Blackwatch-” Gabe started, spluttering slightly, “You’re not the commander, it’s my decision-”  
  
Ana cast a glare over her shoulder that made Gabe close his mouth quickly.   
  
“I feel it’s only fair for me to meet your new son if he’s going to be staying around.”  
  
“He’s not my son-”  
  
“That’s what you said last time, Gabe.” Ana chuckled, “Now we all have to deal with your obnoxious cowboy son.”   
  
And with that, she left, mug in hand, heading towards the medbay and leaving Gabe alone and sighing exasperatedly.   


* * *

  
When Reyes went back to the medbay that evening, a young black nurse confirmed Ana had visited Malik. They had chatted for hours. Reyes really wondered what they had talked about because when Ana was done she had texted him.   
  
[Cap. Amari: If you don’t bring Malik into BW I’m taking him myself.]   
  
He knew he shouldn’t even be considering this, really. Malik was a 17-year-old with charges of international terrorism, gang affiliation, and compromising Overwatch security. Reyes should not be considering hiring the kid. And yet here he was, standing outside of Malik’s medbay room.   
  
Malik didn’t look any less tired than he had the other night, dark circles still prominent under his eyes. Some of the bruises were fading though, and his arm was out of the sling- though it was obvious he had just taken it off when the medics weren’t looking. There was now a crutch propped up next to his bed now, reminding Reyes that Malik had a host of injuries or disabilities that should have automatically disqualified him. As if the criminal charges weren't enough, the handcuff around his good wrist was a painful reminder of that.   
  
Yet still, Reyes pushed that aside and finally walked into the room.

Malik startled when Reyes carefully grabbed the handcuff on their non-paralyzed wrist, flinching in a way that made Reyes wince. Raising his eyebrows, Malik watched Reyes unlock the handcuff and free their hand. He instinctively tried to massage the reddened skin with his paralyzed hand, using the heel of his palm instead of his fingers.   
  
“What was that for?” His speech was much slower than when he was using the translator and heavily accented.   
  
He would need to work on his English, Reyes realized, adding it to the growing list of things Malik would need in order to become a good agent. That list was getting to be long and daunting. There was no backing out now, though, he was already in too deep. Chuckling slightly, Reyes pocketed the handcuffs before looking back at Malik.  
  
“Welcome to Blackwatch, kid.” 


	3. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse interacts (or attempts to interact) with Malik.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way too long I'm sorry.

Jesse looked over at the guy sitting on the couch in the commons. He had been brought on a few months back, some hacker and former criminal. Reyes had thought Jesse might be able to get along with him, they’re both the same age, joined Blackwatch the same year, Reyes had alluded to the fact they might have similar backgrounds. At first, Jesse didn’t want to hang out with the guy- Malik- purely because Reyes wanted him to. Not that he had much of a chance in the past months. Malik had been confined to the medbay for a while recovering from a gunshot wound, then he had been mostly going between the medbay and his new quarters. When he first saw the guy, he had looked pretty bad off, one arm in a sling and limping around with a forearm crutch. As time went on, the sling disappeared- though his arm still didn’t look right- and the crutch devolved into a cane. Jesse had thought the guy would be walking around normally soon enough, but that day never came. The cane stayed. It wasn't something that strange, in all honesty, but it did feed the rumors. And there were plenty of rumors. Things like why he had a cane, minuscule details the way he dressed, how he never wore uniform. People trying to figure out where Malik came from, how some kid that appeared out of nowhere got a position in Blackwatch, trying to read into Malik's odd behavior. Nothing malicious in nature, Blackwatch just was a group of agents trained to read and observe people, it was inevitable they'd try to read the strange recruit no one knew anything about.

In the past month Malik, though, hadn’t been in the medbay as much, and as a result, Jesse had seen him sometimes, mainly being carted around to different meetings. Malik apparently had the most inside knowledge of Talon than anyone else Blackwatch or Overwatch had found. Jesse had no idea how some guy his age had got all that information and made himself into an asset, but Jesse didn’t envy him. Malik always looked tired and miserable. The only times Jesse got to see him really was sometimes at meals, in the halls- almost always seeing him sticking close to Mikael. He had hardly spoken to Jesse after Reyes introduced them to each other, aside from a few occasions. Both of them were the youngest in the organization, so neither of them were taken on missions, but even when they were forced to be together, Malik somehow managed to avoid him. The few times Malik wasn’t with Mikael, and wasn’t outright avoiding him were times like this when he was lounging in the Commons in the evening.

Well. Lounging might not be the right word. He was on the couch, blanket draped over his lap, a mug of tea on the table nearby that his cane was propped up against, and he was focused on the screens in front of him. Not relaxing; working. He never relaxed, even in his off time he was working. Jesse had tried to look at what he was doing once or twice, but every time he noticed him looking he either froze, flinched, or glared at him. What Jesse did manage to see was lines and lines of colored code, terminals with lines of text flying past too fast for Jesse to see. Jesse couldn’t begin to comprehend what Malik was doing, not even taking into account that a lot of the text wasn’t even in English. He almost wrote them off as too straight laced and not even worth trying to get to know, but sometimes he managed to catch a glimpse of something besides work on Malik’s screen. A Tibetan (or Arabic, or Mandarin, or Spanish) to English dictionary. A small game that he minimized the second he saw Jesse look. What looked to be personal photos he would look at longingly, if only for a second before he closed. News articles in a language Jesse couldn’t read but that seemed to put Malik on edge and affect them personally. A few social media pages he would scroll through discreetly. And once Jesse swore he saw him laugh quietly- Malik hardly ever smiled outside of a few times with Mikael- and to Jesse, it felt like he saw something few would ever see.

Tonight wasn’t much different to most nights Jesse saw Malik in the Commons. He had seen Malik going to a couple different meetings today, and he seemed tired and stressed about each one. Seeing Malik still working after what must have been a long day made Jesse feel bad for them. So tonight, Jesse decided to plop down across from him.

Almost immediately, Malik startled, and Jesse noted the way their hand twitched- the way his own would sometimes when he would instinctively want to grab his weapon. Old habits die hard.

“Sorry, Malik,” He said genuinely, “Didn’ mean to startle ya.”

Malik was silent for a while and Jesse worried for a moment Malik was angry with him. Or at the very least, irritated at being bothered.

“It’s fine. McCr- Jesse.” Malik nodded tersely after a while, looking back down at his work.

Jesse smiled at the way Malik pronounced his name, how unique it sounded in their accent. Most people thought it was hard to understand Malik, which was true enough sometimes. He still stumbled over many of the sounds, but he was improving from when Jesse had first heard him talk. It was hard for Jesse to imagine suddenly having to learn a new language.

“Your English is getting better.”

Tensing slightly, Malik’s eyes flicked back up to study his face.

“Is that… is that the, um…” His eyes closed as he searched for the word he was looking for, muttering under his breath in his native tongue, “Is that… sarcasm. Are you using sarcasm?”

Jesse’s heart fell slightly at his question- both the question itself and because he knew the reasoning behind it. Not everyone had been patient with Malik’s English- some even laughing at his accent and slip ups with the language. It wasn’t always meant to be malicious, and Jesse guessed how some people treated Malik was due to more than his accent. Like Jesse, Malik was just some criminal kid that was picked up in the middle of nowhere and given a job with Blackwatch. But Malik had the added issues of being disabled, dark skinned, and originally not speaking too much English.

“Nah man, I mean it. English is a shitty language. Learning it ain’t easy, but you’re doing pretty damn well if I do say so myself.”  
After a few moments, a small smile playing his lips for a split second before it was quickly replaced by his typical impassive face.

“Thank you, then.”

He looked back down at his work, starting to type again, and Jesse sighed silently.

“What are you working on?” Jesse tried.

“Reprogramming and strengthening the cybersecurity,” Malik said flatly, not looking up from his screen.

Jesse waited for a moment to see if they were going to say anything else, but Malik was silent, focused on his work.

“So, where‘re ya from?" Jesse tried, "Reyes won’t say where he found ya’, but I heard somethin’ ‘bout ya’ being from China-”

“Not China, Tibet,” Malik interrupted, “They’re different. Different language, different culture.”

“Alright then, Tibet. That’s a pretty long way from ‘ere, how’re ya adjusting?”

That seemed to give Malik paused, he stopped typing for a moment, taking a deep breath.

“It difficult. Maybe not in a bad way. More food, more water. It’s… very bright and loud, though. Weird staying in one place. Weird being surrounded by different culture, and so many white people…” Malik trailed off before shaking their head, starting to focus back on their work, “It doesn’t matter, though, I’m here to work.”

Jesse sighed again. He had been so close to bringing Malik out of his shell, but Malik seemed adamant about keeping his walls up. Jesse wasn’t one for giving up, though, quickly trying to think of another plan. Slowly, a grin crept onto his face as he thought of something.

“Ay, Malik,”

“Vaquero,” He said plainly, reluctantly looking up from his work, raising an eyebrow.

“Wanna do something fun?”

That seemingly caught Malik off-guard, and he was silent for a few moments while he processed what Jesse had said.

“Define fun?”

“Well, what d’ya do for fun?”

Malik fell silent for a while, fidgeting for a moment.

“I’ve never had much time for fun.” He shrugged, eyeing his work.

“Aw c’mon, y’aint done something fun. Yer almost 18, you have to have done something! Snuck out to a party, played games, hung out with friends.”

“I spent the past months mostly getting medical treatment and being recruited into a black ops group, in the years prior I was a terrorist and gang member, not at the same time. As a child when I wasn’t working on herding or scavenging I was fleeing military or omnic attack, or progressing my hacking skills so I could help the resistance. So, no, I never had time for much fun, nor did I have many friends, or attend many parties."

Malik didn’t sound aggressive, but the way they didn’t even look at him and the calmness of their voice as they carefully chose their words still made Jesse feel slightly threatened. He might not have meant anything threatening, Jesse knew, it was just how they spoke, but that didn’t comfort Jesse too much. Hoping Malik didn’t notice the shock on his face, Jesse nodded. Malik had obviously expected him to leave and maybe he had hoped Jesse would leave because Malik looked visibly uncomfortable when he flicked his eyes up and saw Jesse still sitting there.

Jesse got the feeling from his actions that Malik was used to people leaving by now. Granted, Malik wasn't the friendliest person, or that talkative, his mannerisms and the way he spoke could be odd at best, he wanted to work and he tended to be overly logical and literal. Jesse knew not many people had warmed up to Malik, and Jesse knew what it felt like to be outcast like that.  
He had to do something.

“Well then, why don't ya come have some fun with me.” Jesse grinned.

“...Pardon?” Malik narrowed his eyes at Jesse, fingers frozen, hovering above their keyboard.

“If y’aint had fun in forever then I gotta change that. Let’s sneak out of the base and go have some fun.”

Malik took a deep breath and Jesse braced for the worst.

“You still haven’t defined fun.”

Jesse let out a laugh.

“Go out on the town. Check out the city. See what there is to see. Get some food. Maybe get some drinks. Find a party. Some cute girls maybe-” Jesse noticed the way Malik tensed slightly and quickly added, “Or cute guys, y’know. Whatever your preference. I mean shit man, you’re pretty damn good looking, I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard t’ find someone cute that likes ya.”

Malik’s cheeks flushed slightly and he slid his keyboard away after a few moments. Grinning, Jesse already felt victory.

“Is that not against the rules. Going out and leaving the base? Would we not have to ask Gabí or?”

Smiling at the nickname Malik had for Reyes, Jesse shrugged.

“Not gonna lie, pantera, I’m guessing it’s against the rules. So I understand if you don’t wanna-”

“No that is fine, breaking rules do not bother me.” Malik cut him off, much to Jesse’s delight, “But… um. Is party all we going to do? I don’t… like loud that much… some is good. But if we’re going out could we go shopping or get food or something?”

Jesse raised his eyebrows slightly and Malik flushed slightly red, sputtering a bit.

“It stupid! I just never been to stores or bought anything and I just wanted- but it’s fine. I can um-”

Malik was frantically trying to backpedal, seeming slightly panicked at having let themselves be vulnerable for a moment.

“Nah man, I wanted to check out some of the shops ‘round here as well.” Jesse smiled, hoping to reassure Malik.

It seemed to work slightly, as he nodded, his cheeks still slightly flushed.

“Okay… Do we go now?”

“I mean that’s what I was planning. Why?”

“I just need to grab a few things. And I don’t know how you were planning this to do, but I’m assuming what you were planning would get us caught. So give me a moment to get into the security and find the best way, yes?”

Jesse grinned. He was liking Malik already.

* * *

  
Reyes sighed deeply, looking at the two in front of him. Malik and Jesse were both dressed in casual clothes, Jesse looking slightly sheepish and staring at the floor of Reyes office. On the other hand, Malik looked rather indifferent, fidgeting with his cane and tapping their foot.

"Would either of you care to explain why you thought sneaking out and going out partying was a good idea?"

"Well, ya see boss--" Jesse started, but was quickly interrupted by Malik, to his surprise.

"I don't think either of us thought it was 'good idea', and we also didn't just go out to party?"

Grinning, Jesse held back a small chuckle, looking up at Reyes mischievously.

"I mean, I think pantera here has a good point, y'know. But look it was my fault anyway--"

"Quiet." Reyes said, cutting him off, "Malik, I can understand you being dragged into this, but Jesse, you should know better by now. Jesse- cleaning duty for a week."

"Hey now-

"Malik," Reyes continued, unperturbed, "You have a PT session you need to get to, I'll let you get to that, and we'll talk later."

Malik simply nodded, standing up- with some effort- and limped out of the room. Sighing, Jesse crossed his arms.

"Dismissed."

* * *

 

The next evening, while Jesse was scrubbing the floors, he was surprised when he heard Malik's telltale uneven gait behind him. Before he had the chance to say anything, a sudden pain blossomed in his side as Malik's cane hit him.

"Ow! Ay Mali-"

"Vaquero cabron," Malik muttered, limping over to a nearby chair, "You shouldn't have taken blame. Idiot."

Jesse looked up at Malik curiously.

"Yer mad at me for that? C'mon man I was being nice-"

"I don't need you to be nice to me. Stop being a gentleman. If you had let me take blame, punishment would have been much less. Idiot."

"So, ya came her to yell at me then?" Jesse asked, scratching the back of his neck.

Sighing, Malik went silent for a bit and Jesse could see them trying to formulate an answer. Their normally impassive face showing a new emotion Jesse couldn't quite read.

"You shouldn't be doing this alone, it's not fair," Malik said quietly after a minute.

Guilt. That's what it was. Malik felt guilty for Jesse getting punished.

"Aw, it's fine pantera," Jesse shrugged.

"It's not," Malik repeated firmly, "I. I uh, cannot help with, this. Because of my nerves. But. You still shouldn't have to do this alone."

Malik settled back in his chair defiantly, leaning his cane up against the wall nearby. Chuckling, Jesse shook his head.

"Yer something else, you know that Malik?" Jesse smiled, when he noticed Malik's confused face, he quickly clarified, "It's a good thing, man. But, if ya wanna hang with me while I clean up, I ain't gonna stop you."

"Good."

Malik stayed true to his word, staying with Jesse while he finished his cleaning duties that night. And the next night. And the next night. Malik showed up without fail, sitting with Jesse and eventually giving into his attempts at small talk. It didn't bother Jesse that he did most of the talking, honestly. He was just glad to see Malik looking less miserable for once when he sat with him.

 


End file.
